My intial plan for this weekend’s game time had been to fight for the glory of the empreror in Space Marine 2 with a buddy of mine, but they were unexpectedly busy, which left me to find another game to play. Fortunately, Pepper Grinder was on sale, so I snapped it up since I’d actuallly been wanting it for a while. I thought I’d get a couple of days out of it at least, yet, here I am having finished it already.

There is a lot to like about Pepper Grinder, and I’ll get to that in just a second, but right now I’m mostly thinking about just how short it is. I mean, there are only four worlds with only 5 or so stages each. I finished it in a little under 3 hours with a fair amount of that time dying to the end of stage bosses. I got the game on sale for $10, but it still feels a bit lacking in terms of content. It’s not entirely a negative though, because that little bit of content I did get was mostly great!

Playing through the actual levels of Pepper Grinder is an absolute blast! Learning to handle the drill takes a level or two, but after that you get a real sense of flow as you dive through each stage. The key to it is learning how to angle yourself when exiting drillable spaces and timing boosts for extra height or distance. If you do, then you be flying through most stages like it’s second nature. Serisously, the central digging mechanic in this game has been very well realized.

Another plus is the soundtrack. It’s all fast-paced, actiony beats that remind of of the stuff from old racing games, and it alll serves to keep you pumped up and motivated to move forward. It’s backed up by a very appealing, high-detail pixel art aesthetic, which simulaneously looks fresh while calling back to classic platformers. Really, aside from the length and two other issues, Pepper Grinder has it going on.

The two main issues with Pepper Grinder are kind of both the same thing in that they’re gameplay related. Whenever the game deviates from the its core of digging through levels, there are problems. The first instance of this are all the bosses. Yes, their fights all incorporate digging, but the way the digging controls work just isn’t suited to classic boss fights.

You spend more time fighting the controls as you try to line yourself up for hits than you do actually fighting the boss in most cases. The game’s final boss in particular highlights this, as the best way to beat it is to commit to as little digging as possible lest you accidentally wander into a big AoE attack.

The same holds true for later levels, where the developer decides to focus on anything but digging. These one-off mechanics work okay, but they feel like an annoyance that distracts from the fun digging gameplay. It’d be one thing if the game was longer, but having nearly a quarter of the game deviate away from the digging just doesn’t feel good.

When it’s sticking to what works: digging your way through normal levels, Pepper Grinder is a fantastic platformer that is a joy to play. A short run time, frustrating bosses and an oddly large amount of time spent on other mechanics take away from this though. I’d say to either try the demo or grab it on sale once it’s $5 to $7. For what it is, it’ll be money well-spent.

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Have you played Pepper Grinder? What did you think? Are you usually a fan of platformers?

Image from the Steam page